July 30, 2013

A thirty-two year
old male patient presented with headaches, which occur every evening.Lately the headaches have been getting quite
severe and are only slightly alleviated when he pounds on his head or after
taking analgesics. When asked when the headaches started he mentioned that he
works as a driver, and last summer when the weather was extremely hot, he would
often drink iced soft drinks or beer on his breaks. Initially there was no
problem but once the autumn arrived, the headaches began. I asked aside from
the headaches, where else he felt discomfort. He mentioned that he also had
black spots in his vision, and would get disorientated at times.His complexion was soot black, his tongue was
pale and tender with a wet, slippery coating, and his pulse was deep, wiry, and
moderate. This is a pattern of yáng vacuity with water exuberance, and turbid
yīn scurrying upwards. When clear yáng is clouded there is dizziness, and when
there is struggle between yīn and yáng, this will result in headaches.

Formula:

fù zǐ (Aconiti
Radix lateralis preparata) 12g

shēng jiāng
(Zingiberis Rhizoma recens) 12g

fú líng (Poria)
18g

bái zhú
(Atractylodis macrocephalae Rhizoma) 9g

zhì gān cǎo
(Glycyrrhizae Radix preparata) 6g

bái sháo (Paeoniae
Radix alba) 9g

guì zhī (Cinnamomi
Ramulus) 6g

After six packages
of the above formula his headaches had decreased substantially. He
was then given four packages of líng guì zhú gān tāng (Poria, Cinnamon Twig,
Atractylodes, and Licorice Decoction) to consolidate the treatment, and
afterwards his condition completely resolved.

July 23, 2013

On May 28th, 1965,
a 67 year-old male presented at the clinic suffering from shortness of breath,
chest pain, and chest oppression for over a month. On April 23rd he
was diagnosed with a myocardial infarction, and was administered both
nitroglycerine and aminophylline, which were ineffective. He also sought out
Chinese medical treatments and was given various qi boosting, blood
invigorating, phlegm transforming, and collateral freeing medicinals (such as
rén shēn, huáng qí, mù guā, chì sháo, jiàng xiāng, táo rén, xiè bái, and yù
jīn), which he had been taking for the last month but no obvious improvement
was observed.Currently he was
experiencing a burning hot pain in the left side of his chest, shortness of
breath, which was exacerbated with movement, he was occasionally cold and hot,
had a stifling sensation below his heart, a bitter taste in the mouth,
occasional head distention, insomnia, and dry stools. He had a yellow tongue
coating, and a wiry, slippery pulse.

Second consultation (June, 1st):
After taking three packages of the formula most of his symptoms had improved,
but he was still feeling suffocated in the evenings, had heartburn after meals,
and his stools were still dry. His tongue coat was still yellow, and his pulse
was wiry, slippery, and slightly rapid.The same formula was administered but the dà huáng was increased to 3
qián.

Third consultation (December
23rd): After taking two packages of the formula, the suffocating
feeling in the evenings disappeared, and while he still experienced some
shortness of breath on exertion, it would gradually resolve after a little bit
of rest. Afterwards he did not return for a follow up.He was currently being treated for a weeklong
cough with a modified version of bàn xià hòu pò tāng (Pinellia and Magnolia
Bark Decoction).

Commentary:In regards to the treatment of this case, the
previous physicians had used blood invigorating, qi regulating medicinals,
however they all failed to provide any relief for the patient, while Dr. Hú was
able to offer a good effect by grasping the crucial aspect of the
condition.The previous physician paid
little attention to whether the condition involved heat, cold, repletion, or vacuity,
while Dr. Hú recognized this to be a repletion heat pattern stuck in the half
exterior half interior portion of the body.In addition, he recognized this as a dà chái hú tāng and guì zhī fú líng
wán formula presentation, which is the reason why his treatment worked so well.